PCS: Union fears that civil service pay review will not tackle inequality
The government’s review of public sector pay must go further than planned if it is to really address unfairness, the Public and Commercial Services union says.
The union welcomed the news Will Hutton has been asked to look at fair pay, but said fundamental inequalities, built in to the system by the Conservatives in the 1990s and continued by Labour, could be missed if Mr Hutton’s remit is too narrow.
The review is an opportunity to tackle low pay, unequal pay and the unfair bonus system – which sees money taken from the overall pay pot – but will only work if the Tory and Lib Dem coalition government is seriously committed to these issues, the union said.
Since 2007, basic pay in the civil service has increased by 6.5% and inflation by 10%, meaning a real terms pay cut. The lowest paid in the civil service earn just above the minimum wage and many PCS members are paid just £13,000 a year.
Since the mid-1990s, the responsibility for negotiating pay and other terms and conditions has been devolved to individual departments and agencies, meaning there are more than 200 separate sets of pay negotiations in central government.
This is not only inefficient and wasteful, it has led to massive inequalities between people doing similar work in different departments, with some earning up to a third more than their colleagues on the same grade in another part of the civil service. PCS is awaiting the outcome of an equal pay tribunal it has taken against the Department for Transport to challenge the fact gaps of up to £5,000 exist between the DVLA and Driving Standards Agency.
Rather than simply review senior civil service bonuses, the union has called for all bonuses in the civil service to be scrapped and the money redistributed through annual pay rises which count towards pensions.
Pay in the civil and public services, and the threat of massive public spending cuts, will be debated by delegates at PCS’s annual conference which starts on Wednesday.
Beth Lamont, head of PCS’s national pay unit, said: “There are some shocking examples of low and unequal pay in the civil service that are a direct result of the policies of successive governments. We would like to work with Mr Hutton to tackle these, but we are concerned his terms of reference will be to narrowly-drawn if the political will isn’t there.”
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “If this represents a damascene conversion by the Tories to the cause of low and unfair pay then it will be very welcome. If not, it will be an opportunity missed and will have minimal impact.
“Of course no one should earn more than 20 times the lowest paid in the organisation – but on a salary of £13,000, that is still £260,000 a year and there are only a handful of very senior civil servants earning this kind of money. Just looking at those on senior salaries will not give you any answers about what life is like for people on poverty pay.”
ENDS
Notes
– For more about PCS conference visit www.pcs.org.uk/confmedia and for information and interview requests, contact PCS national press officer Richard Simcox on 020 7801 2747 or 07833 978216
– The Public and Commercial Services union represents civil and public servants in central government. It has more than 300,000 members in over 200 departments and agencies. It also represents workers in parts of government transferred to the private sector. PCS is the UK’s fifth largest union and is affiliated to the TUC. The general secretary is Mark Serwotka and the president is Janice Godrich
– Follow PCS on Twitter“>
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